Deputy Minister opens Connaught Academy in Caerphilly
Welsh Assembly Government Deputy Minister, Jocelyn Davies, officially opened the largest skills centre in Wales - which is training more than 900 people a year in varous trades, including the installation of Green energy systems in homes and businesses.
Ms. Davies, Deputy Minister with responsibility for housing, opened Connaught Academy in Caerphilly, owned by Connaught Plc. Connaught is one of the largest social housing management companies in the UK with a major presence in Wales.
Connaught Academy provides training for internal staff and external clients - including Local Authorities, Housing Associations and SMEs - in trades such as plumbing, gas, electric, water, oil and health & safety courses.
Ms. Davies said, "The Connaught Academy has a very important role in the community. It is helping may people to gain the skills they need for successful careers, and in doing so helps ensure we will have the trained professionals to improve social homes in line with the Welsh Assembly Government's targets. Throughout Wales, there will be considerable investment by Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standards by 2012, which requires homes to be in a good state of repair, energy efficient and well managed.
"This extremely well-equipped facility trains people in all the skills needed to do this work. In addition, I am impressed that Connaught is investing in training people in insallation of renewable energy systems. As awareness grows of climate change issues and energy efficiency, there is likely to be considerable demand from the domestic and business sectors."
Connaught Academy Regional Training Manager, Huw Evans, added, "Connaught believes in investing in the communities where we work. The Academy is the largest of its kind in Wales and attracts people from a wide area. We train our employees to the highest standards, as well as those of partner organisations and client companies, to attain qualifications such as City & Guilds and CORGI registration. We are helping to ensure that there is no shortage of skilled people in Wales to upgrade homes and communities.
"In addition to training in various trades, we now also provide a range of management development courses, as well as compliance training to help meet their health & safety obligations."
One of Connaught Academy's first trainees in renewable energy installation, Scott Davies, said, "This course was extremely worthwhile for me. With the increasing focus on renewable energy across the public and private sector housing, it's great to be ahead of the game."
Connaught is a key provider of social housing management solutions and compliance sevices in Wales. Additionally, the compliance division was recently strengthened with the acquisition of Caerphilly-based National Britannia Holdings, a UK leader in white collar health & safety compliance services.
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